Figure 1.
a, Experimental procedure. During the training phase participants studied several face–word pairs and engaged in a T/NT phase thereafter. In the T/NT phase, the fixation cross changed its color after a baseline period, predicting a forthcoming T trial (green) or a forthcoming NT trial (red). Next, the cue item of a previously studied face–word pair was presented, and participants were asked to either remember (T condition) or actively suppress any thought (NT condition) about the target word. The T/NT phase was followed by a cued recall test, during which all previously studied items should be recalled. b, Behavioral results. In the cued recall test, forgetting (baseline − NT) was absent after five NT trial repetitions, but was present after 10 NT trial repetitions. Error bars represent SE. c, ERP waveforms for the first five (dotted line) and the last five (solid lines) NT trial repetitions for one representative electrode (for more electrodes, see supplemental Fig. 2a, available at www.jneurosci.org as supplemental material). Gray bars indicate the time windows during which significant differences emerged. d, ERP waveforms for the first five (dotted line) and the last five (solid lines) T trial repetitions for one representative electrode (for more electrodes, see supplemental Fig. 1a, available at www.jneurosci.org as supplemental material). Gray bars indicate the time windows that were used for plotting the topography. e, Topography of the anticipatory ERP effects plotted in amplitude (top row) and t values (bottom row). f, Topography of the memory cue ERP effects plotted in amplitude (top row) and t values (bottom row). Red colors indicate decreased positivity with increasing repetitions. pcorr refers to the p value obtained by randomization tests (see Materials and Methods).